


Beauty and Music

by LJ106



Category: Pitch Perfect (Movies)
Genre: Disfigurement, F/F, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-12
Updated: 2020-05-19
Packaged: 2021-03-02 17:41:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,107
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24140746
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LJ106/pseuds/LJ106
Summary: AU Fic- Aubrey Posen is in grad school pursuing a career in music therapy. During an internship she crosses paths with Emily Junk, a young burn victim who is trying to deal with trauma and loss.
Relationships: Emily Junk/Aubrey Posen
Comments: 3
Kudos: 13





	1. Chapter I

Chapter I

24-year-old Aubrey Posen awoke early on a fall morning to get ready for her day. She listened to music and sang as she showered. During the shower, she felt her nerves getting to her. Today, she would be starting an internship at a group home for young people dealing with recent trauma. It was part of her graduate program in music psychology and trauma. The young woman had always loved singing and music and believed she could use to help others. After getting out of the shower, she dressed, did her hair, and ate a light breakfast. 

She eventually arrived at the Peterson Center. It was a large group home. She first went to the office of the group home director, Dr. Teresa Carlson, a therapist with over thirty years of experience. 

Dr. Carlson greeted her, "It's good to see you Aubrey, welcome to Peterson Center".

"Thank you, Dr. Carlson. I'm a bit nervous, but I'm ready to get started here and I'm willing to learn and help". Aubrey responded.

Dr. Carlson smiled and said, "Our facility is currently housing eight residents. Most of them are in their early 20s, except for one patient who is 19. Three patients are wheelchair bound due to recent spinal cord injuries, one is a burn victim, three patients are currently undergoing treatment for cancer, and one is person is losing his vision to a degenerative disease. I'll be honest Aubrey, there will be difficult times with our residents. Many of them are still adjusting to a new normal in their lives and sometimes they can be bitter. They need their space at times. You will be conducting counseling and therapeutic sessions with them. I will be monitoring you from time and time and you will be writing up reports. We can't require all residents to participate in your sessions, so don't take it personally if a resident or two doesn't want to participate." 

"I understand. But, can a resident join later on?'" Aubrey asked.

"They sure can. Let's get you started, I'll have the receptionist call in the residents and we will meet in our little conference room." 

\--------------------------------------------------

* * *

Aubrey was led down a conference room that was filled with small paintings and drawings. A few tables with chairs were lined up neatly. 

Minutes later, Dr. Carlson arrived with two young men and a young woman in wheelchair, a young man with a white cane, two young women who looked a bit ill with their heads covered in scarfs, a young man with beanie, and young brunette woman trying to keep her head down. Aubrey quickly noticed scars on the right side of her face. 

"Everyone, this is Aubrey Posen. She is a graduate student from Barden University and she will be doing a music therapy internship here. She will be leading sessions which are optional." Dr Carlson said. 

Aubrey then said, "Hello, everyone. I'm in my second year of graduate school and I plan to become a music therapist. I'm a strong believe that music can have a good psychological effect. I hope to learn from you all and also help you. So, about you all introduce yourselves to me and tell me what you love the most about music.

The first resident was one of the wheelchair bound residents- a young blonde who introduced herself and said, "I'm Alyssa, I was recently injured in a car accident. I don't have musical talent, but I do love it. When I was in the hospital and learning to cope, sometimes just listening to the radio calmed my nerves. 

The second resident was the young man who was losing his vision who introduced himself as Sam. 

"I grew up in a household where my father played the guitar and my mother played the piano. They had me lessons when I was young so I play both guitar and piano. I'm grateful to them for encouraging music because I'll always have it once my vision is gone." Sam responded. 

"I'm Kyra, I'm currently undergoing treatment for a rare form of breast cancer that runs in my family. I can't sing or play instrument. But, I do love rap and hip-hop and dancing." The young black woman responded.

One of the young men in a wheelchair with a very short haircut went next and said, "I'm Tyler. I just arrived here last week. I got injured in a motocross race. Like Sam here I play guitar. I haven't played since before my accident, but I'd like to start again maybe it will help me with all these messed up emotions.

The fifth resident to speak was the second young man in a wheelchair. 

"My name is Nick. I got paralyzed in a car accident. I don't play any instruments. I do sing and I have sang in school and church choirs. Music as always been a part of my spirtual life.

The next resident was a young woman who wore a scarf and she said, "Hi, My name is Robin. I was diagonsed with bone cancer a few months back and I might have to have my leg amputated. Listenting to music as been theraputic for me, maybe I can to learn to use it other ways.

The seventh resident to speak was a young man who wore beanie. 

"Hello, I'm Paul and I'm currently undergoing treatment for leukemia. I'm tone deaf, however I do enjoy music and maybe I'll learn to play an instrument. 

Aubrey had been smiling as the residents introduced themselves and she looks towards the young woman with scars on her face.

The young woman still kept her down a bit and she said, "My name is Emily and I really don't want to talk about music." 

Aubrey noticed the young woman's voice cracking and she responded, "Well, that's okay".

Emily then nodded and left the room.

\---------------------------------------------------

* * *

Later after touring the group home, Aubrey and Dr. Carlson headed back to the office. 

Dr. Carlson said you did well with your introductory session. Emily, the young woman who is a burn victim has a little bit more emotional problems than some of our other residents. She lost her parents in the car accident and fire that caused her burns. She's our youngest resident at 19. When she first got here, she refused to speak for the first few weeks and can be quite moody and angry. I will speak with her tonight to see if she would interested in music therapy sessions" 

Aubrey then asked, "I could sense something inside of her when she said she didn't want to talk about music. I'm going to guess that she shared a musical connection with someone in her life. Perhaps one of her parents". 

The older therapist said, "She hasn't talked much about her parents or their deaths. Perhaps you're right. Anyway, go home Aubrey and relax for awhile. Sometimes these types of internships can be difficult. I'll be here to guide and so will your professors and others at the university. 

As Aubrey left the group home, she noticed Emily sitting at a table in the front yard. She headphones plugged into an iPhone and she fully saw the extent of Emily's scars on the right side of her face. They were ropey looking with white to reddish colors. The scars went past her neck. Emily was wearing a long sleeve shirt, but Aubrey noticed some elastic bandages wrapped around her right hand which she didn't notice in the conference The young woman had her eyes closed and seemed to be relaxing. 

A bit of sadness crept into Aubrey and she was now determined to help Emily and other residents through music. 


	2. Chapter II

Chapter II

The next day Aubrey headed to her classes. Graduate school in her second year wasn’t tough as the first. She chatted with classmates between classes and then headed to the Peterson Center for her internship work. Today, would be the first official session to her program. She was going to include journaling for the first official session. The blonde prepared the conference room and provided each resident with a spiral bound notebook for journaling.

The residents filed in shortly after getting the ok from staff and Emily sat off on a corner of table.

Aubrey started off the session, “Welcome everyone, I hope you are doing well today. Today, I’m going to talk about journal therapy as a way of expressing emotions in a format that you can have some control over. But, our journaling for these sessions will be different. For the first prompt, I would like you all to write about a song that expresses anger in your life especially with the things you have all been through. It can by any kind of song, whether it’s a ballad, rap song, country, or even a TV theme song. Just write about and how it’s helped you in some way or just how it makes you express anger about something your life. You are all going through difficult times and changes that aren't' easy. You can get angry, but sometimes music can help express that anger in a healthy way. 

The blonde then handed out the notebooks to each resident along with pens. She then gave them twenty minutes to write. She gave glances at each resident. A couple of people would be writing and then pausing to reflect on what to write. Some were writing in a quick manner.

The time was up and Aubrey announced it.

“Ok, now it doesn’t matter if you wrote a lot of or not. This is our first exercise to help you get used to this part of the program. If anyone wants to share what they wrote, please raise your hand.

Two residents raised their hands and they were Tyler and Emily.

“Emily, let’s start with you.” Aubrey said.

The younger brunette glanced down at her journal and said, “I wrote about the song Slipped Away by Avril Lavigne. This song doesn’t have an extremely angry tone, but for me it does in way. I didn’t get to say goodbye to my parents because of how the accident turned out. I’m still angry about that and sometimes hearing that song just helps me show some emotion about how I was denied important goodbyes. I'm not sure if I'll ever get over just not being to say goodbye to my parents”

Aubrey responded, “Very good. Thank you for sharing.”

Tyler then read his response, “Hurt which was originally sung by Nine Inch Nails and later covered by Johnny Cash. For me it is a song that expresses the anger I have at myself. I knew that motocross was a dangerous sport. However, I still loved it even though there were times I would get minor injuries. The accident that broke my back hurt a lot more things in my life and I’m angry for that. “

The blonde nodded at it Tyler and said, “It’s good to acknowledge anger that you have with yourself.”

Aubrey spent the rest of the scheduled session talking about anger and sudden changes. The grad student talked about her own life and how growing up with a military father meant constant moving around, sudden changes to his ranking, and how he missed out important events in her life during her childhood and teen years. She mentioned the anger and sadness that those events caused her. Then she shared details about her college life.

“In college at Barden University, I attended a student activities fair as part of the orientation and I got introduced to a capella and tried out for and got into a group called the Barden Bellas. Overall, it was a great experience for me. Yes, there were tough times we disagreed over song choices and choreography. But, I formed a musical bond with the Bellas and we all used music to get through breakups, fights with significant others, fights with family, and stresses with school. I believe bonding over music in some way can help us all.” Aubrey said.

She then noticed how Emily left the room abruptly.

After the session ended, Aubrey was invited by the group home staff to have dinner with the residents and other staff members. It consisted of pizza, salad, and iced tea. The graduate student enjoyed the relaxed mode of the dinner and it was good to be just casually chatting with residents and staff members.

As she was finishing up her salad, Emily approached the table she sat at.

“So you’re attending Barden for graduate school after doing your undergrad there. How is it there? I have a family who attended and I thought about attending back in high school.” Emily said.

“Well, it’s great school with intelligent professors. The student life environment is fun and you get to meet different people. You can always consider Barden later on. Do you plan to go to college or do vocational training? The blonde asked.

“I’m not sure. I still have to do some surgeries on my skin and sometimes the recovery isn’t pleasant. Also, I’m not sure if I’m ready to be in an environment with people around my age with how now I look.” Emily said sadly.

“I understand the hesitation and fear and yes some people can be cruel. Sometimes you just have to focus on doing good for yourself in a certain environment and just ignore what others think of you. If you ever want consider applying to Barden let me know and I can maybe help you with the application process and I could accompany you to the admissions office. The blonde kindly said. 

A look of sadness came across Emily’s face and she said, “Oh, no it’s ok. I probably won’t consider Barden at all. It's just sort of a pipe dream.

The brunette then left the table quickly.

Aubrey became immediately concerned and went after her and said, “Are you ok Emily?

“Yeah, I’m ok. It’s just that I’m really unsure of my future.” She responded.

“It’s ok to be unsure of what to do. Just take things slowly and I’m here for you. My cell phone number is in the contact cards I put in the notebooks I gave you all. Feel free to call or text on days that I don’t come here.” Aubrey said.

Emily smiled slighty and said, “Thanks Aubrey.”

* * *

Awhile later, Aubrey said her good nights to people and headed to her apartment. She turned on her computer to review class notes and check her email. She found an email from her close college friend Chloe Beale.

The email read:

_“Hey Acabitch,_

_I’m going to be in town this weekend for a visit to my dad. Let’s get together one night for drinks.”_

_Chloe._

Aubrey replied that she would love to meet up with Chloe for a get together. She missed her friend who was attending veterinary school a few hours away. She did some course readings and then went to sleep excited for the weekend and meeting up with Chloe.


	3. Chapter III

Chapter III

A few days went by and Friday rolled around for Aubrey. Luckily, she only had one class on Fridays and would spend some time at the Peterson Center. So far her internship had been going quite well. Some residents were opening up more to her about the emotional well-beings. Her professors allowed her to incorporate some fun things into her program such as watching movies related to the subjects of music. Since it was Friday, she saw it as the perfect day to have a movie day.

She arrived early, set up the TV, brought in some comfortable couches into the conference room so the residents wouldn't have to sit on rough chairs. She brought popcorn, beverages, and theatre size boxes of candy like Skittles, Starbursts, and Goobers. The movie she was going to show was Mr. Holland’s Opus, which was the story of band teacher’s career and how he connected with people through the music. 

The residents filed in as usual. They were all happy to see Aubrey.

“Since it’s a Friday, I figured we would watch a movie about the subject of music and connections. You all have the option of writing in your journals afterwards about how the movie made you feel in regards to music and emotional connections. The movie is Mr. Holland’s Opus. It’s a 90s movie about musician turned band teacher. It deals with how people connect with music through good times and bad times.” Aubrey said.

The residents all nodded and then a few moments later she turned on TV and put the DVD into the player. She took a seat next to Emily and Kyra. She noticed that Emily’s hair had a very flowery smell similar to lilacs. She figured it must be the shampoo. About halfway through the movie, Aubrey stopped the movie so the group could have break and get more refreshments from the table. 

After the intermission, she started the movie again and this time only Emily sat next to her. The rest of the movie went well and she could tell that the residents enjoyed the movie. 

She turned off the TV as soon as the credits started rolling on the movie. 

“If anyone wants to share about how the movie made you feel, please feel free to share”. Aubrey said. 

Sam, the young man who was losing his vision started, “This movie really touched me especially when Glenn Holland discovered that his son was deaf. While losing my vision isn’t completely taking away music from me. It’s hard to deal with the fact that eventually I won’t be to see how music is played, I won’t be able to see people singing songs and putting in emotions into playing music.” 

“Thank you Sam. I understand that it must be difficult to lose an ability which will keep you from not seeing everything and not being able to fully immerse in music.” Aubrey said. 

Tyler, one of the paraplegic residents then shared his views on the movie. 

“I hadn’t seen this movie. I enjoyed it. The main character Mr. Holland was able to connect with different people through music even he didn’t have some other things in common with them. I hate that I will no longer be able to do motocross with friends. But, I’ll be ok in time knowing that we can connect over things like music.” Tyle said. 

Aubrey smiled at the young man.

She then said, “Does anyone else want to speak?” 

There were no responses.

“Feel free to write in your journals about the movie and we might discuss the journal entries later on. Let’s just hang out for the rest of the session.” The blonde said.

Aubrey learned that some of the residents would be going out during the weekend to the movies and other public places. 

Later on, the residents left the conference room and she cleaned up.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------

The blonde returned to her apartment and first did some assignments. Then she cooked a light dinner. In the morning, Chloe would be coming over for the weekend. She changed the sheets on the guest bed and freshened up the guest room by melting a lemon scented wax tart. 

Aubrey laid in bed thinking about the residents at the Peterson Center and the struggles they were going through. She would be developing additional plans for the group later on.

The next morning, she awoke and got ready for the day. Chloe arrived at 9 am. The two had breakfast and talked about other friends from Bellas.

Chloe said, “I talked to Beca yesterday and she is working on a big album in LA. She won’t tell me much about it yet. “ 

“I need to give her call. I’ve been so busy with my graduate studies and my internship”. Aubrey said.

“Don’t worry about it. We all get busy and I’ve felt bad about not checking in more often. How is your internship going? “ Chloe asked.

Aubrey responded, “It’s going better than I expected. The people I’m working with have all responded well to the program I’ve implemented. Some share more than others which is fine because people have different emotions.” 

Chloe nodded and said, “I’m glad things are going better for you in your second year at graduate school. I know last year was tough for you.” 

“It was. I almost quit. But, I didn’t quit because I want to carry through with my goal of being a music therapist. I’m sure vet school gets tough for you, but you love animals and that’s your motivation is to help them.” Aubrey said.

Her friend nodded, “It is. I know it wouldn’t be all sunshine and rainbows when I start practicing. I know there will be times I will have to make pet owners make difficult decisions.” 

Aubrey said, “When that happens, they will be lucky to have someone who is empathetic and compassionate.” 

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
A few hours later, the two friends were at the mall. The two did a bit of retail therapy and were having coffee in the food court. Aubrey was checking some emails on her iPhone, while Chloe was talking on her phone with the pet sitter who was watching her pets.

Aubrey then heard a familar voice say, “Hi Aubrey.” 

She turned and saw that it was Emily. The blonde then noticed that the brunette was wearing a hooded sweatshirt with the hood up probably to hide some of her scars.

“Hey Emily, how are you doing?” She asked. 

“Ok, I guess. I decided to come here to get out.” Emily said nervously. 

Chloe then got off her phone. 

Aubrey said, “Chloe, this is Emily Junk. She is one of the residents of the Peterson Center, where I’m doing my internship.” 

Chloe smiled at the young women and held out her hand to shake and Emily nervously shook her hand. 

“Nice to meet you.” Emily responded. 

The redhead then said, “Emily why don’t you join us?” 

“Ok, if it's ok. I don't mean to impose” She said.

Aubrey gave her an encouraging nod. 

The brunette sat down. Aubrey noticed she was nervous and asked, “Do you want me to get anything? 

Emily pulled out some cash and said, “Can you get me a french vanilla iced coffee?” 

“Sure” Aubrey said taking the cash.

Chloe had noticed Emily’s scars and wasn’t frightened. 

Emily nervously asked, “Have you and Aubrey been friends long?” 

“Well, it’s been about six years. We met during our freshman year at Barden.” Chloe said. 

Aubrey returned to the table with Emily’s drink and change. 

Chloe said, “I was telling Emily that we met at Barden and been friends ever since.” 

“Yup, we were in The Bellas together and we have tons of stories.” 

Emily looked towards Chloe, “You were a Bella too. That’s cool” 

The redhead sensed that Emily knew quite a bit about the Bellas. 

“Are you familiar with The Bellas or a capella?” She asked. 

Emily then looked down a bit and said, “I had someone in my family who was in the Bellas a long time ago.” 

Chloe then realized the surname “Junk” was a connection. 

“Was your mother Katherine Junk?” She asked.

Emily just nodded yes.

A big smile formed on Chloe’s face and said, “Your mom is a legend”. 

The brunette sadly replied, “She passed away. But, when I was growing up she talked a lot about Barden and the Bellas.” 

Chloe said, “I’m sorry to hear about your mom.” 

Emily simply said, “Thank you.” 

A couple of minutes later, Emily said she was going to go off to one of the bookstores in the mall.

Chloe sensed something was wrong and said, “Did I upset her?

Aubrey said, “Emily and her parents were in a car fire. Her parents didn’t make it and she was burned.” 

“Oh my god. The poor thing. I should apologize to her.” Chloe said,

“It’s ok, you meant no harm. Maybe, we should see if she wants to hang out with us the rest of the day. I could call the group home and let them know.” 

The two went off to the nearest bookstore and saw Emily coming out with a bag in hand.

Aubrey said, “Chloe and I are going to hang out around town. Would you like to come? We could call Dr. Carlson and tell her that we will drive you home later.” 

Emily said, “Ok, I would like to spend a little more time away from there. ” 

An hour later, three were in Aubrey’s car and we were headed to one of the parks that was open to all on Barden University.


End file.
